Market Wrap / buy the rumour, sell the fact?

The S&P/ ASX 200 made meagre gains this Monday, up 0.03% to 8233.50 points, as investors fled defensive positions.

Support among the energy and mining sectors buoyed the market. 

US-China trade talks hailed as “positive” by both parties boosted the iron ore miners. BHP leaped 2.3%, as the AFR also reported better-than-expected copper reserves at BHP’s Argentinian discovery project. Elsewhere, Mineral Resources managed to jump 8.3% higher, despite HESTA, a $91 billion superannuation fund, selling its remaining stake citing “serious governance concerns”.

Dyno Nobel rose 1.9% after it sold its fertiliser distribution business to Ridley Corp for $300 million dollars. 

Meanwhile, both Telstra and South32 reported on C-suite change. The former was flat as it picked Steven Worrall from Microsoft, and the latter picked up after announcing a transition plan for the CEO position. 

Elsewhere, among the banks, only Macquarie made some gains on broker upgrades, while NAB was flat before trading ex-dividend tomorrow. 

Tonight, investors will assess the US trade balance data amidst trade turmoil. Locally tomorrow, the Westpac- Melbourne Institute Consumer Confidence index is released.